25 [Vol. xxxvii. 



of the clutclies shown, together with two others which had 

 passed through his hands, had been collected in Kashmir, 

 either in the vicinity of Grulmurg and Gandarbal or close to 

 Srinagar, the chief town of that State. In many parts of 

 Kashmir the Common Sandpiper bred in great numbers, 

 and these abnormally large clutches probably only repre- 

 sented about one per cent, of those taken or seen in situ 

 during the last twenty-five years. 



He went on to remark : " The causes which govern the 

 variations which occur in the number of eggs normally laid 

 in a single clutch by species, genera, and families of birds are 

 very complex, and no less complex are the laws which cause 

 abnormal increases or decreases. 



" Underlying the whole we have, of course, Nature^s 

 dominant law that reproduction must be on a scale suffi- 

 ciently large to ensure continuation of the s])ecies, and 

 counterbalancing this the never-ending competition between 

 individuals, between species, and between families. 



"But Nature^s motive power to all this is food, and 

 undoubtedly /ooc? decides what number of eggs a bird shall 

 lay, though food is itself dependent on many conflicting 

 conditions — both climatic and geographical. In some cases 

 these conditions are more or less permanent, in others they 

 are temporary only; in some cases they obtain over vast 

 areas and in many they are purely local. 



" To touch even the outskirts of this vast question is not 

 possible in the time at oui- disposal, but there are perhaps 

 one or two rules, well known to those who study oology in 

 its wider branches, which are fairly consistent in their 

 working and to which I would briefly refer. Tlie first of 

 these rules is the very constant one, that birds in high 

 temperate latitudes lay more eggs in a clutch than they do 

 in tropical countries. At first sight one might urge that 

 this appears to be a direct contradiction of the theory 

 that food is the principal factor governing the production 

 of eggs, for food is surely more plentiful on the average 

 in tropical than in temperate climates. A little thought, 

 however, shows that the contrary is obvious. 



" It is true that food is more plentiful on an average 



